Food Expo

We spent a few hours at the EXPO before heading downtown with Maria and Matthew. Matthew had to go to the Herb Medicine Museum do some research for an article he is writing for an English magazine for foreigners in Daegu called The Compass. Maria and I decided to do one of the experience program and make herbal lip balm while the boys waited. It was really fun to make, and it only look about 40 minutes and cost $4. The woman who taught us was wearing traditional Korean dress, Hanbok, and was prepared with her script in English. It was really cute. We were making it with some really adorable, young Korean girls. We kept trying to talk to them. The younger one  was being silly and kept holding up one finger when we asked her age despite her mom's efforts to get her to hold up three. The room we made the lip balm in was really cool and traditional looking. Almost as though we had gone back in time to meet at herb medicine doctor at his shop. We made the lip balm out of only a few ingredients: citrus (for smell), vitamin E (for moisture), almond oil (for moisture), rose hip (for smell), and beeswax. We measured out various amounts of each on a scale, and then the women melted the wax. We then poured the liquid into little lip balm containers we were given, put sticker labels on top, and waited five minutes for it all to harden. It's actually really nice, and it smells good. After we made our lip balm, we got audio tours (turns out they are available in English!) and walked around the museum. It was much better with the tour because we actually understood what was going on.

Here's some information about Oriental Medicine and the Herb Medicine Market in Daegu:

The Herb Market opened in 1658 as a bi-annual market in a government building. There are several reasons the market in Daegu may have become so popular and important to Korea. The first two reasons have to do with Daegu's geography and topography. Daegu is situated along a river in a valley at the center of the province. The mountains surrounding Daegu were rife with wild herbs, as were cities in the surrounding province. The river made transportation of goods easy. It made sense to have a market in Daegu for the ease of export and trade as it was the center of traffic for the province. Other reasons for the markets prominence was that Koreans once gave herbs to Chinese royalty as tribute, increasing the prestige of Korean herbs.The market was known all over the world, and goods from many countries were traded there.  Also, herbs were exported to Japan and other countries, so it is understandable that Korean herbs became popular. Whatever the reason,  the market has always been an important economic asset to Daegu. It has been in its current location for over 100 years. It was moved in 1908 and became a daily market. The market became a center of nationalism and rebellion against the Japanese during the early 1900's. Unfortunately, the market did decline during the period of Japanese occupation. First, market prices were set, so private selling of herbs became impossible. It was closed in 1940. By the time it opened again, after the Japanese left, the market had lost its international reputation. It became a more modern market with permanent shops as opposed to the traditional market stalls.

Oriental Medicine sees the body in a very different way than Western medicine. Oriental medicine tends to see the entire body as an interconnected whole as opposed to separate parts.  It states that the cause of an illness is weak energy in the person or disharmony in the entire body. So while Western medicine treats a specific ailment or body part, Oriental medicine treats the body and energy as a whole. Rather than treating all individuals the same way, each person is seen as have a different energy and body. Even if two people display the same symptoms, the treatment may vary. The basic principle is that all things exist in pairs of positive and negative. There are five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. They are harmonious and also antagonistic, following the positive and negative pairs principle. Each of them can destroy as well as create another (not exactly, just don't think about it too literally). There are also five colors: yellow, green, red, white, and black. Green and black are the "yin" and yellow, red, and white are the "yang." Each color corresponds to an emotion, a season, a body organ, a direction, and once of the five elements. So they all interact and tell something about the others when an oriental medicine doctor is examining you. There are five viscera and six entrails in the body. The viscera represent positive energy and the entrails represent negative energy. Looking at various external parts of the body can tell you about what may be happening to internal viscera and entrails. Acupuncture can effect the viscera and entrails and help with the all-important energy flow. Gyeonggrak are pathways for chi, and those are meant to be clear and free-flowing. There are 20 meridians in the body, and those meridians correspond to certain viscera and entrails. This is why stimulating certain areas of the body can benefit seemingly unrelated areas. Acupoints are concentrations of energy in a specific place and stimulation relieves this for better flow of energy. There is also something called Sasang Typology that divides bodies into 4 types. Treatments differ depending on your body type.

I found the history and information about Oriental Medicine very interesting, even though Gianni really didn't. I'd like to go to an oriental medicine doctor for a consultation and see what they recommend for me.

After the museum, we met Sian and Thomas downtown for some barbecue. Even though it was pork barbecue, it tasted just like beef! It was so delicious! That night, we were supposed to have a party with the people who were in our group at orientation. We actually see quite of a few of them anyway, since a lot of them live in Daegu, but I guess the party was more for the ones that aren't in Daegu. Not many people ended up showing up, especially because there was a concert event happening that night in another city that a lot of people went to. We stayed out kind of late just talking to our friends near the bars, but it was kind of a bust, so we went home.

This week, both Gianni and I have been dealing with speaking tests. You wouldn't think giving tests is so hard, but it really is! Some of the kids don't say anything! You really have to coach some of them through it. And there's a lot of pressure put on us to get them done quickly, which is really hard because you want to give all the kids a chance to try their best and think about their answers. Also, this is my first time grading speaking tests. The EPIK teachers at my school usually don't do it, but I think it's much better that we are. I like being able to talk one-on-one with each kid. I don't really agree with the questions on the test, because it's basically just a memorization test. They have to remember what's in the textbook and say it back to me. It gets a little boring. I've asked to help make the test questions next semester though, so I'll make them more open and free-form. Then it will really be a speaking test!

We've also been trying to make sure we go to taekwondo a bunch because we only have one more test before our black belt. We got our brown belts at the end of last month, and we're testing for red next week. Serena has her black belt test next weekend, which we will go and see, but we won't actually do our tests for black until October. Serena is going to have a lot of support during her black belt test because her mom, sister, and step-daughter are visiting from the States. We went to dinner with them a few weeks ago. Max's daughter, Hailey, is actually coming back to Korea in a few months to live with Max and Serena for a year, so maybe we'll be babysitting soon! Hailey is 8, I believe, and she's really fun an energetic. Gianni and I had to apologize to her because we aren't used to talking to children who already know English! We were talking to her like she was one of our students! Woops! Last night, I went to dinner with Da Eun. It was nice to reconnect with her because we've been missing her at taekwondo. She's a nurse at a hospital taking care of newborn babies, so her schedule is crazy. Da Eun and I got sushi and drinks at starbucks, chatting while we walked around downtown. She's testing for her second degree black belt the same day as Serena is testing for her first one.

That's the update so far! School is almost over, and I am the most excited for our vacation HOME!